Sunday, 9 January 2011

Recruiting Updates

The firing of Rich Rodriguez has hit Michigan's recruiting class pretty hard, the amount of possible commits dropped from 7+ to....one? Even current Michigan commits are opening things back up; for some reason it seems like Al Golden and Miami are after all of them! Anyway, here's a quick breakdown of where Michigan stands.

- Jake Fisher is still committed but has opened his recruitment back up. He's been talking to MSU, ND, PSU and Oregon, so the competition could be tough if Michigan doesn't bring in the right coach. He'll take an official to MSU, and possibly the other three if they offer. If he likes the new coach, and forms a good relationship, don't worry about him.

- Jack Miller has also been hearing from a lot of schools, but it looks like Boston College is the only one that could challenge Michigan. Miller is likely to stick to his pledge no matter who is brought in. No really worried.

- Dallas Crawford will take an official visit to Miami, his childhood favorite school. USC have also sparked some interest, but I don't think he'll visit them. This is the one I'm most worried about right now, but I think if Les Miles comes in, Crawford will stay.

*EDIT* : Crawford is no longer classed as a Michigan commit, and he will visit USC officially after speaking with Monte Kiffin. Michigan is still in the race of course, but right now it's looking doubtful unless they bring in the right guy. LSU offered Crawford, so if Miles ends up in Ann Arbor that would really help, because it shows his staff has been interested for a while.

- Joining Crawford on his official visit to Miami will be kicker Matt Goudis. I'm not really sure why the coaching change matters that much to a kicker, but alas; he's opened it up.

- Kellen Jones is another one picking up interest from the Canes, they will probably offer him shortly, trying to get him to at least visit. He's just waiting to see who the next coach of Michigan is before locking things down.

- Blake Countess has also opened it up, but to be honest I don't see him leaving the class. Basically if the new coach comes in and says he wants Blake at Michigan, then he'll stay. He chose Michigan the school, not the coach.

- In stater Raymon Taylor is still really interested in Michigan, and he'll visit officially once a new coach is in place. He's not exactly a consensus four star, so might have to see if the new staff want him first...

- Chris Bryant has delayed his decision until later this month, i.e when Michigan should have a coach. He loves Michigan as a school, and whilst he didn't want RR to go, I think Michigan still leads. If they bring in the right guy, expect him to go blue.

Coaching Update:A lot of these issues will be resolved as soon as the new coach is announced. I think if Dave Brandon brings in a big name coach, Michigan will keep all of these commits, presuming they are all wanted by the new staff.Michigan is going to meet with Les Miles, and by the sounds of it, he could well accept the job. Miles has been a good recruiter and is one of few possible candidates that I would actually have faith in to hold the class together and perhaps make a steal on signing day.

4 comments:

Plain ans simple... If Michigan doesnt bring in a big name coach, we are in trouble and even then we could be in trouble. We can not compete in a big time conference and have a recruiting class like this may become. Its about 23-25 days till official signing day and we dont even have a coach!!! Dave Brandon should have either fired RR after the OSU game or kept RR for another year because this has back fired on us!

Yeah if we bring in LM maybe he could bring in some of his top 10 class. I think he didnt fire RR after the O st game because if he won the bowl game he would consider keeping him IF he didnt get another big name.

Well John, I wouldn't hold your breath on any LSU commitments. I'm not sure how many of them had contact with Michigan originally (i.e an offer), but I only really recognize Jonah Austin and Trai Turner as recruits that talked about Michigan being in their top five. Also, LSU's class is made up of Louisiana kids, probably guys that have followed LSU their whole lives and want to stay at home for College FB. I wouldn't be surprised if Miles couldn't bring any with him.The advantages that Les Miles brings to recruiting is that he's a big name coach, and he's had contact with the likes of Tim Jernigan, Kris Frost, Mickey Johnson and Dallas Crawford, so he could potentially land one of those guys.

Sidenote: Looking at LSU's class on ESPN; it's not actually that great if you like Star ratings. Whilst they have some top10 overall players in Anthony Johnson and La'El Collins, the rest of the class really isn't that special.